


The Ugly Truth

by Chelseadaggz



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Outlaw Queen - Freeform, Regal Believer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 08:04:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18406523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chelseadaggz/pseuds/Chelseadaggz
Summary: Inspired by the British television series Doctor Foster and originally written for an OQ Prompt week prompt. Regina Mills completely uproots hers and her son's life when she hears of her husband's cheating, returning to a town filled with memories for her - some good, some bad. With the help of her son and her best friend, Emma Swan, will she be able to heal and find happiness again?





	The Ugly Truth

**Author's Note:**

> This will be an OQ story eventually, but for now, entirely Regal Believer and Swan Queen friendship

_It burns in her throat, in her belly like acid. Cuts through flesh and bone to the very core of her as though forced in and twisted by an invisible hand. The hand of betrayal._

_She wills herself to stop looking, wishes she could snap her thumb off to keep from scrolling through, but she can’t. Not now. It’s too late for that, for them. For any of them. She feels as though she’s being ripped apart from the inside out as she sinks lower and lower to the ground. The gravel bites at the skin of her knees but it’s nothing compared to the pain vibrating through her._

_A lie. All of it, every single part of it - a lie. And it’s not one that belongs to just him. It’s all of them. Every single last one and she wonders how long they’ve known, how far back the pretence goes because she’s seen the texts. Each little warning from the very people who’d accused her of being paranoid when suspicion had started creeping in._

_She feels sick to her stomach._

_Picture after picture after picture of them all together; laughing, smiling, playing happy families like it’s okay, like it’s no big deal, like they haven’t ripped her heart from her fucking chest and jumped all over it._

_She can’t stay here. Not now. Not now that she knows._

* * *

 

She lifts her eyes from the road, Henry’s stirring in the backseat, smacking his lips together like he used to do as a child, and it pulls the first real smile she’s been able to manage over the last couple of days from her. “Morning, sweetheart.”

He frowns, still drowsy, before sleep-shrunken eyes turn to the window to find the sky growing lighter. “Have you been driving all night?” It had been late when they’d left - when she’d grabbed as much as she was able to manage and thrown it into the car along with Henry’s things - but not late enough to explain the rising sun, not in his confused mind anyway.

“I stopped for a little while at around two,” she replies, looking to the empty road and back at him again, “you were out like a light.”

“Aren’t you tired though?”

She smiles again, heart swelling painfully in her chest at the concern in his eyes as he meets her own in the rear-view mirror. “A little but we’re almost there.”

“Where exactly is _there?_ And why did we have to leave so suddenly? Does Dad know?”

Her throat constricts, fingers curling tighter around the steering wheel at the thought of _him_ , of them all. “No,” she replies lowly, “he doesn’t know, and he isn’t going to know. He doesn’t deserve to know.”

“Have you guys had a fight?”

“Not exactly, sweetheart.”

“Then wha-”

“It’s not something I can explain quickly, my darling. Not like this but I promise that as soon as we get to where we’re going, I will tell you everything, okay?” Because he deserves to know why she’s uprooted them completely. “I’m just a little too angry right now to be objective, it wouldn’t be fair of me to put that on you.”

He looks at her for a long moment and she knows he wants to push her further for an answer, but he must see the plea in her eyes even through the mirror and so, he simply nods and says, “Okay,” before turning his gaze back to the window just in time to catch sight of the sign they’re passing.

_Welcome to Storybrooke_

* * *

 

“Woah!” Henry breathes from the back, shifting in his seat to get closer to the window and take in the sheer size of her father’s estate as they grow closer, “Is this where we’re going? How have you never mentioned this place before!? It’s enormous!”

Guilt churns in her stomach as it always does when she thinks of the parts of her that her son has missed out on - her father especially. “This place holds a few bad memories for me, Henry,” she replies honestly as she pulls in slowly and turns the engine off, taking a deep breath as she looks up at the mansion, “it’s not somewhere I like to think about a lot.”

“Why not?”

Flashes of her childhood fill her mind for a moment, forcing her eyes shut as she swallows thickly and reminds herself to breathe. She doesn’t get a chance to think, to answer, before there’s a knock at her window and she just manages not to hiss out an expletive in front of her son.

“Aunty Em!” he cries from the back seat, scrambling to get his door open to greet his godmother on the sidewalk, “I didn’t know that this was where you lived!”

“Hey, kid,” Emma greets warmly as she takes Henry into her arms and gives him a good squeeze, “only the best people come from this little place, just ask your Mom.”

Regina takes a moment to gather herself as the two continue chatting excitedly outside, she hadn’t told her friend exactly why she was coming to town - the revelation that Regina was going to be stepping foot in Storybrooke was enough of a shock for one phone call - before she gathers her nerve and takes the keys from the ignition. There’s no going back now, this is it, home.

“How was the journey?” Emma asks, detangling herself from Henry for a moment to give Regina a quick squeeze - it lingers longer than usual, she knows something is up - before she’s slinging an arm around her godson’s shoulders and smiling a little too softly at Regina - she definitely knows that something’s up.

“Tiring.”

The blonde nods sympathetically, she’s made the ride over to Boston enough times to know just how tiring it is, before she replies, “I didn’t get a chance to stock up the cupboards for you after my shift so how about we take this one for his first hot chocolate at Granny’s and we get some caffeine in mama bear?”

“Hot chocolate?” Henry grins up at Emma as she nods down at him, “with cinnamon?”

“Well, _duh!_ ”

He chuckles, rolling his eyes at her before he looks to Regina and asks, “Can we, Mom?”

“We can go over to the store afterwards, get you guys all set up here for however long you need?”

Regina sighs - imperceptibly she hopes as it’s not Emma’s fault she’d given barely any warning about their arrival in town - before she nods tiredly, already mentally preparing for the questions her friend is no doubt already forming in her inquisitive little mind. “But you’re driving,” she adds, “and _not_ in that death trap you call a car.”

“My bug is awesome,” Emma feigns offence before grinning, “but I won’t say no to driving your precious Merc.”

Regina’s eyes roll as she hands over the keys, already feeling a little better just being close to Emma, close to her own people.

* * *

 

“That absolute _prick!_ ”

“ _Emma!”_ Regina hisses, throwing a cursory glance over to the counter where Henry is chatting animatedly with Granny about the dessert menu. He’s no doubt already planning on making his way through the list.

“He doesn’t know?”

“Not yet,” she replies, eyes returning to the ceramic of her coffee cup as she picks at the paper coaster on the table top. “I’ve already promised to tell him but it’s still too raw,” she looks up to find Emma’s anger replaced by sympathy - not pity, thank god - “I still can’t quite wrap my own head around it so how the hell am I supposed to help him to?”

“You’ll get there, it’s going to take time but you will,” Emma frowns as she places a hand atop Regina’s on the table and gives it a gentle squeeze as she continues, “you’re one of the strongest people that I know. You’ve survived far worse than this.”

Her throat tightens as a wave of emotion washes over her. Bittersweet memories in a town she’d once adored tainted by a mother who’d never loved anything, let alone Regina. She pushes past it - barely - with a cough to clear her throat and a blink to keep her tears from falling as she sits up in her seat, her hand sliding slowly from beneath Emma’s as she changes the subject. “Tell me what’s been happening with you. You mentioned you were looking for a deputy last time we spoke on the phone?”

“And I found one,” Emma’s expression lifts as she too sits back in her seat, “he’s called Robin, only been in town a couple of months but everyone loves him. He’s from England originally but he moved to the States with his wife and ‘set up camp’ as he likes to say. His son is absolutely adorable, a real character.”

“And you get on okay with him?”

“Oh, absolutely!” Emma replies without hesitation, “he’s a good guy, funny too. He’d give you a run for your money.”

Regina chuckles, rolling her eyes at Emma’s teasing words before she allows her gaze to drift back over to Henry. Guilt instantly churns in her gut. She shouldn’t be sitting over here joking and pretending she hasn’t ripped their lives apart - well, technically it’s Daniel whose ripped their lives apart but she’s the one who decided to leave without word of where they were going - add to that the anxiety she has over the questions she knows he's bound to ask about the grandparents she's barely ever mentioned before and this idea isn't sounding as good as it had late last night.

“We’ll figure it out, Regina.” Emma insists.

Gratitude swells at her friend’s promise, specifically Emma’s ‘ _we_ ’ because here, unlike in Boston, she is no longer alone. “I know,” she replies after a moment and, for the first time in a couple of days, she actually believes it.

* * *

 

Regina sits quietly at the end of the guest room bed - it’s too painful even thinking of going into the master bedroom just yet, she’s not ready for it - with her toes buried in the deep, soft pile of the carpet.

Emma had been a saint over the last few hours, keeping Henry amused as Regina took a trip around the grocery store. Thankfully, she hadn’t come across anyone that she knew as of yet. At least not anyone who’d ask for more than the polite nod of hello she’d given.

They’d travelled home together - Emma still driving the Mercedes, much to her delight - before her friend had said her goodbyes and taken off for her afternoon shift at the station.

That had left just Henry and Regina and, of course, he’d tried to push for some more information from her about this sudden move.

It isn’t fair to keep the truth from him, not when she’s uprooted his entire life, but he idolizes his father. How is she supposed to tarnish that?

As if on cue, he appears in the doorway, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe and frowning gently at her. “You okay, Mom?”

She’d sought solace not long after he’d asked about his father again, not exactly subtle as she’d sniffed and wiped at her eyes. She can’t blame him for being worried. “Come here, sweetheart,” she tells him, patting at the space on the bed beside her. When he sits, she lifts an arm to wrap around his shoulder, turning her head to press a kiss to the side of his head before she tells him, “No, I’m not alright.”

“It’s about Dad, isn’t it?”

She swallows thickly. “Yes, my darling. It is.”

“Has he done something bad?” Henry asks, his little face pulling at her heart as a tear falls from her eye and she nods gently. That only seems to worry him further, however, as he shifts back a little from her in order to see her better and asks, “Did he hurt you, Mom?” and before she can answer, he continues, “because, if he did, I’ll never speak to him again. I’ll go back there and hurt him back!” It astounds her somewhat, the strength of his conviction, his want to protect her even over his father.

She chuckles softly, wetly as she shakes her head and cups his jaw in her palm. “Your father has never laid a hand on me, Henry. He never would,” she leans forward to press a kiss to his forehead before gathering him close again and continuing, “but he has hurt me, sweetheart. Very much. But before I tell you why, I need you to promise that you won’t choose sides, I don’t want you to. He’s still your father and he still loves you with everything that he has,” the words are bitter on her tongue, true but bitter. “Can you do that for me?”

He looks at her for a long moment, eyes moving between her own before he nods slowly, still frowning at her.

Regina manages something of a smile even as her tears continue. “Thank you, Henry.” And then, with a deep breath that does nothing to steady her nerves, she tells him. “I found something out about your father, something that I will never be able to forgive him for and you don’t need to know all of the details, but I will tell you the basics. He hasn’t told me himself, I don’t think he’s even aware that I know but...it seems your father is in a relationship with another woman and has been for some time. I found pictures of them together on a second phone of your father’s with all of our friends. Everyone knew but me.” It’s probably too much detail for a young boy to handle but she wants him to know the truth, wants him to understand why she’s pulled him from the only place he’s ever called home to bring him here.  

“And me.” Henry turns his face from her, looking down at the carpet as that frown only deepens. “I don’t understand,” he shakes his head after a long moment, “why would he do that?”

It’s the same thing she’s been asking herself since she found out. Sure, they’d had their problems - nothing major - but what couple didn’t? They made love regularly, still made one another laugh and absolutely doted on their son...so how could he does this to them?

“Aren’t we enough?”

Her heart practically shatters in her chest as she looks to find a lone tear trailing down Henry’s cheek before she scoops him tighter into her arms and tells him, “You are always enough, Henry. Don’t let this make you feel like you aren’t because you are. He’s been a very foolish man, but he loves you more than you’ll ever know, my darling.”

Henry nods, sniffling quietly as he lifts his hands to curl over the forearm she has wrapped around his shoulders and over his chest before he asks, “When are you going to tell him that you know?”

She thinks of the missed calls mounting up on her cell, the texts from her husband demanding to know where the hell she has gone with their son and answers honestly, “I’m not sure yet but it will have to be soon. It’s not fair to make him worry over where you are, no matter what he’s done.”

He nods again, taking a moment before he speaks again. “Mom?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Would you mind if...uhm…” he swallows and shifts impossibly closer to her, laying his head on her shoulder, “would you mind if I don’t talk to him for a little while?”

Regina presses a kiss to the side of his head once more, absolutely devastated that he’s having to face such conflicting emotions before she nods and tells him, “You can take all the time you need.”

* * *

 

“Hello, Daniel.”

“Where in the hell have you been and where is my son!?”

Her gut flares with anger. “ _Our_ son is safe with me and you don’t need to know where we are. You don’t deserve to know at this point.”

“What do you mean I don’t deserve to know! What is going on, Regina? This isn’t like you.”

She laughs bitterly into the receiver, peeking her head into the living room to find Henry still wrapped up in his book before moving further into the foyer and replying, “You can think you know someone inside and out and not know them at all.”

“You’re not making any sense, what has gotten into you?”

“Sense is exactly what’s gotten into me.” She moves from the foyer and into the kitchen before opening the door to the yard and stepping out. “I found your other phone, _darling._ ” Her head shakes, another vicious laugh breathed through her teeth at his silence. “Tell me, did you ask the others to keep your little girlfriend a secret or did they do so willingly? I know they’ve never quite taken to me, but I hadn’t realised that I was practically _hated.”_

“Regina, I-“

“Save it,” she snarls. “I’ve had enough of your lies to last me a lifetime.”

* * *

 

Once the adrenaline of her phone call with Daniel had worn off - he’d tried to call back after she’d hung up, again and again and again until she’d eventually had to turn the thing off - she’d felt shaken to the core.

When she’d peered into the living room, Henry had still been completely engrossed in his book and so she’d quickly - and quietly - padded her way to the den, ridiculously grateful that her father’s deep armchairs had remained.

She’s always loved to sit in here, practically swallowed up by the sheer size of the chair and her father would laugh and tease that she’d disappear into it altogether if she weren’t careful. Regina thinks that’s what it is that comforts her so as she sinks back into the chair with her knees bent and feet pressed to the cushion like she had as a child. The memory of happiness in this room.

It was the only place her mother would leave them be - within what she believed was reason - and the only place Regina had been able to truly relax within her own home.

She wishes he was here now, her Daddy. Wishes he could envelope her in those big bear hugs and tell her that there is nothing she can’thandle because, at the moment, she feels as though she’s right on the brink of a breakdown.

She’d known that she’d always been something of an outsider within his group of friends. A face they never quite accepted but when she’d found that phone - secret, hidden away from sight in the dark recesses of the trunk of his car - and saw the photographs of them all together, taking little mini-breaks when she’d thought Daniel to be working, smiling widely as though the mere fact he had his arm around another woman, cuddling her into him was not so very wrong she’d understood what she’d been missing all of these years. She was simply not one of them and never would be.

And they’d told her, the women she’d thought were her friends, to stop being so paranoid. That Daniel would never do such a thing to her when she’d first voiced her suspicions. That he was a good man and that she and Henry were his absolute world.

Bullshit. All of it was complete bullshit and she’d allowed them to get into her head for the longest time before she’d finally trusted her gut and found the truth.

She felt like a complete fool.

Her mother had been right when she’d told her not to chase after some idiotic dream of a life that couldn’t be. So very right.

* * *

 

_“That’s always been one of my worst fears, you know.”_

_He looks over at her, pulling his attention from the drama unfolding before them on-screen with raised eyebrows as he asks, “Seriously?” She nods in the affirmative and he frowns then, smirking as he replies, “I thought it was drowning.”_

_“Well, yeah,” she rolls her eyes as she shifts beside him, her foot pressing a little more against his thigh, “but how likely is that to happen when I barely go near the water. That though,” she nods towards the screen, towards the woman on her knees, sobbing as she clings to her cheating husband’s coat, asking him to stay even after his many indiscretions. “Being left alone like that after creating a whole life together...it’s a terrifying prospect.”_

_Daniel’s eyebrows raise once more as he considers her words and replies, “I guess so,” before that smirk is returning and he’s looking back to her. “It’s a good job that’s never going to happen though, isn’t it,” before he shifts up onto his knees on the sofa and angles towards her, pouncing on her with a playful growl and slotting easily between her thighs before he kisses her laughing mouth._

* * *

 

Dinner had been something of a quiet affair, both of them eating their baked chicken in near silence but when she’d reached a hand across the table to Henry, he’d taken it without hesitation and offered her as big a smile as he could manage after the news she’d bestowed upon him that afternoon.

He leaves to take a shower whilst she cleans the kitchen and washes their dishes and finds her around three quarters of an hour later in her bedroom reading. In all honesty, she’s glad for the interruption, glad that she can stop pretending that any of the words she’s reading are going in. “Everything okay, sweetheart?”

He nods, lingering somewhat awkwardly in the doorway and it only takes her a moment to understand what he’s looking for but doesn’t want to ask. So, she does it for him.

“I’m glad you’re here, Henry. I was going to ask if you’d mind staying in here with me tonight?” She can see the way his expression shifts, a subtle relief shading his features but, adorably, he plays it cool and allows her to add, “I always find it a little scary sleeping alone in a new place, but I understand if you’re too old to sleep in Mom’s bed now.”

“No, it’s fine,” he answers a little too quickly – her heart melts in her chest – shuffling further into her room and shrugging, “if it’ll make you feel better, I don’t mind.”

She nods, playing along as he pulls the duvet corner back and slips in beneath it, snuggling close to her the moment she places her book on the bedside table and flicks the lamp off. She takes a moment to get comfy, turning onto her side and slipping an arm between Henry’s side and the mattress whilst the other wraps over the top of him and pulls him tighter against her as she rests her face close to the top of his head on the pillow.

It’s a little early for them to be going to sleep, in all honesty, but it’s been a late night followed by a very early morning and a long day of new and exciting things for Henry – of facing ghosts for Regina – so she supposes eight pm isn’t too unreasonable as she closes her eyes and takes a deep and calming breath.

“Goodnight, my little prince.”

“Night, Mom,” Henry’s reply is already thick with sleep, his breathing evening out more and more, “I love you.”

She smiles, pressing a kiss to his hair. “I love you, too.”

  



End file.
